Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) was the best Finn
sailor on the second day at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Hyeres
and moves into a 10 point lead at the top of the fleet from Giles Scott
(GBR) and Pieter-Jan Postma (NED). Race wins went to Oliver Tweddell,
Zbogar
and Andrew Mills (GBR). Light winds dogged the regatta for the
second day running. Though the bulk of the fleets were subject
to an early postponement to wait for the wind the Finns started on time
at 13.00 in about 6 knots that built slightly during the day, with a
light
chop and a few knots of current making things tight and tactical. Three
races were scheduled to complete the opening qualification series.
The first race of the day again went to
yesterday’s race 1 winner, Oliver Tweddell. He said,
“I got a great start at the pin end, and headed out to the left hand
side where there was more pressure and a nice left shift. I managed to
take
this all the way to the top and extend on the downwind, but lost a lot
to Andrew Mills on the last upwind. It was a nail biting run to the
finish, and
I just managed to beat him to the line.”
Tweddell crossed the finish line first ahead of Mills, Aleksey Selivanov (RUS), Giles Scott (GBR) and
Filippo Baldassari (ITA).
First over the line in race four was the
best performer on Monday, Josh Junior (NZL), however he was
black flagged at the start, giving the race win to Vasilij Zbogar, with
Caleb Paine (USA) in second and Vujasinovic Milan (CRO) in third. Paine
followed this up with a fourth in the final race of the day to rise to
ninth overall, a great recovery after starting his regatta yesterday
with a
black flag and a 23rd.
Junior said, “I had a good day today
picking up a 9th and 11th plus a black flag. I actually won
that race so that was really cool. The wind was light again today, but
not so shifty. I have been trying really hard to get good starts.
Obviously I
fired the trigger a little early today, but these things happen.”
In fact much of the fleet is picking up
high scores. Yesterday's leader Ed Wright (GBR) placed 35th and
24th before finally getting something right to place seventh in the
third and last race of the day to just stay inside the top 10. Another
of the
favourites is London2012 bronze medalist Jonathan Lobert (FRA), but he
is down in 13th after a tough series so far. “It is not easy and very
patchy on the water. But some guys managed to be on top many times.
Tomorrow the final series starts I will start with a 13th in my pocket,
and now I
have six races to get back in the game. Everything is still open so we
will see at the end of the week.”
Race 5 was won by Andrew Mills (GBR), who had the second best day of any of the sailors.
Zbogar
completed an excellent day with a second while Berecz Zsombor (HUN) rounded out the top three.
Mills said, “It was a big left hand track
all day, which made the race win relatively easy once
leading. The hard part was coming off the line in good pressure, which
was sometimes more good luck then judgement. It should be interesting
tomorrow
with good breeze forecast for the next few days.”
On the modified scoring system Tweddell
commented, “I think so far up to this point in the
regatta the scoring system works out okay, I think a few people will be
upset about their points advantages getting cut for the Gold/Silver
split, but
I guess it depends on what side of it you are. It definitely takes away
from the consistent sailor.”
The fleet is now split into gold and silver starts for the three-day, six
race final series before the top 10 go into Saturday’s two medal races.
Results after five races
1 SLO 573 Vasilij ZBOGAR 15.00
2 GBR 41 Giles SCOTT 25.00
3 NED 842 Pieter Jan POSTMA 28.00
4 NZL 24 Josh JUNIOR 29.00
5 NZL 16 Andrew MURDOCH 32.00
6 FIN 218 Tapio NIRKKO 37.00
7 GBR 85 Andrew MILLS 38.00
8 AUS 261 Tweddell OLIVER 47.00
9 USA 6 Caleb PAINE 48.00
10 GBR 11 Edward WRIGHT 48.00
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